Director Alysa Nahmias, whose past documentaries closely examine the lives and works of visual artists, takes on an entirely new topic at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival: cookie sales.
Specifically, she focuses on four ambitious Girl Scouts, working to become top cookie sellers, in Cookie Queens.
Nahmias’s film had its world premiere at the festival’s Salt Lake City Opening Night Celebration on Jan. 24. It was one of two films, along with Fing!, chosen for the Family Matinee section of the festival.
The idea followed a discussion she had a few years ago with her two children, who were then in elementary and middle school.
“One night at dinner, my kids were talking with me, and they said, ‘Mom, do you think that you could make your next film one that we really want to watch and share with our friends?’” Nahmias recalled. While she said she laughed at first, she later thought about the conversation and realized it was an interesting challenge as an artist and a parent.
Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Jason Frank Rothenberg.
A few weeks later, Nahmias said she was talking to friends Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw, who later became Cookie Queens producers, and that Michael had recently purchased Girl Scout cookies. The discussion turned to the visual excitement of cookie selling, and Nahmias said she had an epiphany: “that through the cookies, we really can look at girlhood and the pressures that girls are confronted with, but also their incredible creativity and potential and energy and optimism.”
The film, she said, would feature girls from different backgrounds and geographies, also exploring what they have in common.
Nahmias worked with her producers and two casting specialists to interview hundreds of families to find her subjects — connecting with Girl Scout troops, social media groups, community organizations and more.
“There was so much interest in the Girl Scouting community,” she said. “People were very excited that there would be a film about cookies.”
Nahmias said it was important to her to find girls who were selling the cookies themselves, not relying on parents or others to do it for them, and had interesting goals and inner journeys to explore.
“The girls we cast and the girls in this film, they work hard,” she said. “They go out there and do booths every weekend, and in some cases, weeknights. They are selling anywhere and everywhere, and they come up with some really creative places and ways to sell cookies that I’m excited for people to see in the film.”
She said the film is often shot from a child’s perspective, and that the girls’ experiences unfolded in real time during filming.
“There’s lots of humor, they say funny things, they do fun things, there’s challenges they overcome — inner and outer,” Nahmias said.
Among the film’s executive producers are Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Both attended the opening night event.
While Nahmias awaits feedback from Sundance moviegoers and critics, she said she has reached one of her early goals: Her kids love it. “And they are excited to show their friends, so, at least as a mom, I know I’ve met the challenge, and now we’ll see how that did in terms of me as an artist.”
Nahmias said her mother was a Brownie and later became the first person in her large immigrant family at the time to attend college. “It’s not cause and effect, but it’s definitely part of what formed her ambition and her ability to show herself in the world that led to her taking on challenges that inspired me, so it’s a part of my heritage in that way,” she said.
And whether they were ever scout or not, Nahmias believes anyone who has had a passion will be able to relate to the film. “Whatever that thing is that you’re super passionate about, that really means a lot to you, your identity is tied to it, that’s what this film is speaking to through cookies,” she said.
While filming, Nahmias said she sampled Girl Scout cookies she had not tried before, including her new favorite, Lemonades.
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